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That's about $50 too much for each sku.
I'm sure I"ll buy the premium anyway though.

Ditto and ditto. Even though, dammit, I wanted a white one. But I swear to god, the charging cradle alone is almost enough reason to go premium for me, since I'm sure they'll charge at least $20 for it separately. Cradles are super convenient for my 3DS and Harmony remote. And well, I bet I'd run through 32GB of storage pretty fast if my 40GB PS3 was any indication. Seems petty not to include the console stand in the basic version, though.

Any word on separate Gamepad pricing yet? My guess is $100.

Hooray for including an HDMI cable in even the "basic" bundle, though. Does that mean even the general public is smartening up to $50 cables?

I dunno what's worse, that or the price. Any word on how much the extra gamepad costs?

I don't think they've said how much the various peripherals will cost in the US. In Japan, an additional GamePad will cost roughly $175 a piece. The Pro Controllers are around $75. But you also have to keep in mind that the Yen is strong against the dollar. So that might translate to something more like $150 for an additional GamePad, and $60 for the Pro Controller. That's roughly in line with Nintendo's own suggestions over the past year.

For me, there was nothing surprising in any of this. Price, pack-ins, etc., are all about what was predicted. The only true surprises for me were the subscription service (which hasn't yet been detailed for the US or Europe) and the exclusivity of Bayonetta 2 to Wii U.

The only two launch titles I'm interested in are Rayman Legends and The Wonderful 101, so I'll probably wait six months or so before jumping in. I imagine that the first six months will be filled with a lot of multiplatform ports of games that have been on 360/PS3 for 6-12 months already.

I dunno what's worse, that or the price. Any word on how much the extra gamepad costs?

I don't think they've said how much the various peripherals will cost in the US. In Japan, an additional GamePad will cost roughly $175 a piece. The Pro Controllers are around $75. But you also have to keep in mind that the Yen is strong against the dollar. So that might translate to something more like $150 for an additional GamePad, and $60 for the Pro Controller.

Yeah $150 is the most likely given the Japanese numbers, but man....I can get a kindle fire that has far more tech packed in for that much.

I guess it's easier to drop the price than raise it. They can rake it in at the start from all the early adopters, then apologize and lower the price soon thereafter.

Is it coming with an 8GB SD card, or are they soldering a NAND chip on the motherboard and calling it an SSD?

So that wasn't much... big thing for me and I'm sure some others is that there was NO mention of Nintendo Network functionality, given that we're ~2 months from launch seems a bit concerning. Also interesting that NSMBU wasn't given a date, and the 'launch window' is officially Nov 18 - March '13, which includes 50 games (one of which is a delayed Pikmin 3.)

highlights from the live blog:

TVii:

TVii can be personalized to each member of the house
Nintendo TVii is free, comes packed into each console
It'll let you control your DVR
Access to TiVo content as well as Amazon Prime
On demand streaming via Hulu Plus or Netflix
You can get Twitter feed while watching, as well as share what you're watching

I don't think they've said how much the various peripherals will cost in the US. In Japan, an additional GamePad will cost roughly $175 a piece. The Pro Controllers are around $75. But you also have to keep in mind that the Yen is strong against the dollar. So that might translate to something more like $150 for an additional GamePad, and $60 for the Pro Controller. That's roughly in line with Nintendo's own suggestions over the past year.

That's what the internet is saying:

Quote:

Originally Posted by engadget
Those GamePads will also be available standalone for 13,440 yen, which could see American gamers paying around $173 for the luxury of a spare.

The Wii U pro controllers are priced at 5,040 yen ($65) each, while the Wiimote will continue to be priced at 3,800 yen (around $50), now in a range of colors.

Likewise, the nunchucks will come in three color palettes. The GamePad charging stand will also be available to buy separately -- setting you back around 1,870 yen -- around $25. Naturally, there's going to be some international variance in these prices so we'll be updating once we get those global prices cemented.

Can't wait to see what Nyko comes out with by Christmas time... I'd bet they're all over this

Okay, Nintendo just did an excellent job of talking me out of getting one at roll out. Even if the presentation had been exciting, which it wasn't, and even if the basic bundle had been more compelling*, which it wasn't, the price alone is enough to slow my ambitions. Add the dud presentation and the dud bundles, and my ambitions come to a complete halt.

$300 for an incomplete set that doesn't even have a Wii U game to play. So, I buy it and play old Wii titles? Uh, why?

From June 2012:

"You're talking price and I'm talking value," Fils-Aime said. "What I'm saying is that, it's going to have a fantastic value. Value defined is what you get - all of these great new experiences for what you pay is going to be absolutely competitive."

Well to me "all these great experiences for what you pay" would include something to play. That would add a little value to my $300.

Let's see: what did I learn today?

Overpriced, boring, and incomplete. Yes, that sums it up.

* The $350 bundle is more compelling, but overpriced. The $300 incomplete bundle makes no sense to me at all, except as a cynical throw-away to make the $350 bundle look like a bargain.

None of it looks particularly bad though. It all just looks...ok. The price isn't completely outrageous like the ps3, the software exclusives look decent, the gimmick could be kinda neat, the online will probably function correctly.

There was absolutely no magic or excitement there though. It's just...ok. They needed standing ovation and they got polite applause.

if New Super Mario Bros U was available at launch I probably wouldn't think twice about preordering. Right now, though, I'm 50/50. Coming into the morning I was sure I was going to preorder, but I thought it'd be $50 cheaper and that we'd get a date on the only game they have announced I'm super interested in.

if New Super Mario Bros U was available at launch I probably wouldn't think twice about preordering. Right now, though, I'm 50/50. Coming into the morning I was sure I was going to preorder, but I thought it'd be $50 cheaper and that we'd get a date on the only game they have announced I'm super interested in.

Wait, thats not a launch title? And there's no date? What about pikmin?

Gamestop is taking preorders, instore and online. I preordered the Deluxe version online just to be safe.
(rumors say the preorders are today only and when they run out, that is it until launch...)
I may not be thrilled with the pricing, but it is less than I paid for the Wii back in 2006.
And one last tidbit, Black Ops 2 is running at 1080p 60fps on the Wii U based on what I heard (hopefully they didn't just mean upscaled to)

I grabbed one. I can't believe they charge that much for shipping though. Hopefully Amazon will put it up and I can grab it there instead.

I'll give them this much: The games look smooth, the framerates were nice, and the worlds for the first party games all have that Nintendo feel about them... but I just can't get excited for anything I'm seeing yet, certainly nothing even remotely approaching where I was prior to Wii's launch.

It really does feel like the 3DS all over again, lots of 'meh' concepts presented with no energy for what could be a fun innovation. There's nothing that's a day one or "hype level 1000" in the whole launch window for me.

Nintendoland Trailer, BTW:

And I'm still laughing (in a good way) at the costumes for TekkenU (everything past 0:43)

Oh my god. I'm pretty much over Tekken, but Tekken Wii U? Day one. That looks hilarious, and you know, it's actually pretty interesting to see ridiculous Nintendo concepts like the super mushroom applied to such a different property.

Amazon never had pre-orders for the 3DS XL, and only sold a handful of the units a couple days after release. In fact, Amazon barely carries any Nintendo hardware first-hand anymore - they rely on 3rd party sellers. So the guess is there's some friction between U.S. Amazon and Nintendo of America.

I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon never has the Wii U console for pre-order. But they do list New Super Mario Bros U as a November 18 release w/ pre-order.

"My advice: don't spend money on therapy. Spend it in a record store." – Wim Wenders

I think this was confirmed long ago, but it's nice to have it re-reconfirmed that we wont' be forced to buy Nintendo 500MB Fun Drives or something:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engadget
The Nintendo Wii U may only have 8 to 32GB of internal memory, but the company's taking a decidedly open approach to expanding that memory: add your own. "You can plug in a full-on three terabyte hard drive if you want. I'll love you as a digital consumer," Nintendo America CEO and president Reggie Fils-Aime told us during a post-press conference investor Q&A. Much like Sony's PlayStation 3, the Wii U allows for expansion of memory via USB, whether that memory be Flash or otherwise. Fils-Aime explained that, with the continuously dropping price of memory, there was little reason to offer pricing for the Wii U -- available in $300 and $350 -- tied to an evolving hardware model.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcadia88

Bayonetta 2, aah so thats where you went exclusive. I see how it is now.

Kinda hope activating spells and such in Bayonetta just involves drawing bigger and bigger boobs on the touchscreen.

Speaking solely for myself, I was pretty happy with the presentation. Yes, I wish it was less expensive, but it's not outside of the realm of reason, for me. Support for the Wii stuff I already have is expected, but good. Being able to get some use out of my old 500GB USB external drives? Useful.

The TVii stuff was actually pretty exciting, to me. Being able to have a universal remote that can control and interact with my TiVo and Netflix account? And has wikipedia and imdb connections built right in? It's nice to know Nintendo heard about the internet, finally. And the split-screen playing of BLOPS? In my house, that would be a BIG win. As would being able to play on the screen while the rest of the family watches TV.

I have to say, if I didn't have a 360 or PS3, the lineup for the Wii U would be pretty compelling. I mean, there are some nice 3rd-party games there, some of which are big titles. Assassin's Creed 3, Mass Effect 3, Black Ops 2, Darksiders 2? All games I intend to purchase or HAVE purchased. Sadly for Nintendo, I've already bought or pre-ordered for the 360. But that could change in the future, especially for games that I don't intend to play with friends.

As always, of course, the real question is all the stuff NIntendo DIDN'T tell us.

Yeah, being able to use your own drive is definitely a plus. I'd still have preferred an internal solution where you can BYOD like the ps3, but it's still better than the arbitrarily limited Xbox 360 nonsense.

Amazon is also listed as a seller of the 3DS on Nintendo's site, but that console and the Wii are only available via 3rd parties on Amazon - albeit sometimes "fulfilled through Amazon".

I'm not saying the Wii U console won't be available for pre-order on Amazon's U.S. site, but something strange has been going on lately between these two companies, so I'm somewhat skeptical. I learned my lesson with the 3DS XL and pre-ordered the Wii U at Gamestop today.

"My advice: don't spend money on therapy. Spend it in a record store." – Wim Wenders